Azeri security ministry arrests drug smugglers
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
29 Mar 04
The National Security Ministry has obtained undeniable information
about the cultivation of drugs in territories under Armenian
occupation and its use as a transit route by drug barons. In a
statement issued today, the ministry said that the recent analysis of
operational information showed that a group of Azeri and Iranian
criminals smuggled drugs cultivated in Afghanistan, Iran, including
those planted in Karabakh and other occupied territories, into
Azerbaijan.
On 27 March Iranian citizen Xudan Panahi, 35, and four other members
of the criminal group, who smuggled drugs into Azerbaijan from the
Fuzuli sector of the Iran-Azerbaijan state border, were detained. They
were arrested with 6.93 kg marijuana, 984.5 g cannabis, 154 g of
heroine and 27.04 g of raw opium.
According to preliminary investigation, the narcotic substances were
prepared in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories. A criminal case into
the fact has begun. Operational and investigation measures are under
way to find other members of the gang.